The words of Allah, exalted is He: “Say, ‘I seek refuge in the Lord of daybreak.’” Here falaq means the dawn. This was the view of Jabir ibn Abd Allah, al-Hasan, Said ibn Jubayr, Mujahid, Qatadah, and most Quran commentators (1). It was also narrated by al-Awfi from Ibn Abbas, as indicated by His words: “the Cleaver of daybreak.”
It was narrated from Ibn Abbas that it is a prison in Hell. Al-Kalbi said: “It is a valley in Hell.”
Al-Dahhak said: It means creation. This was also narrated by al-Walibi from Ibn Abbas, though the first view is the well-known one.
“From the evil of what He created, and from the evil of darkness when it settles.” (2) (3)
Regarding His words, “From the evil of what He created, and from the evil of darkness when it settles”: Abu al-Hasan al-Sarakhsi informed us; Zahir ibn Ahmad informed us; Jafar ibn Muhammad al-Mughallis informed us; Harun ibn Ishaq al-Hamdani narrated to us; Waki narrated to us from Ibn Abi Dhib, from [his maternal uncle], al-Harith ibn Abd al-Rahman (2), from Abu Salamah, from Aishah, who said: The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, took my hand and looked at the moon. He then said: “O Aishah, seek refuge in Allah from the evil of the ghasiq (darkening one) when it waqaba (sets in). This is the ghasiq when it waqaba.” (3)
Accordingly, it refers to the moon when it is eclipsed and turns dark. Waqaba means that it enters eclipse and begins to disappear [and becomes dark] (4).
Ibn Abbas said: “Ghasiq means the night when it approaches from the east with its darkness, enters into everything, and becomes dark. Ghasaq means darkness. One says ghasaqa al-layl and aghasaqa when the night becomes dark.” (5) This was also the view of al-Hasan and Mujahid—that is, the night when it approaches ⦗206/a⦘ or enters. Wuqūb means entering; namely, the onset of night with the setting of the sun.
Muqatil said: It means the darkness of the night when its blackness enters into the light of day.
It was also said that the night is called ghasiq because it is colder than the day, and ghasaq means cold.